What does it take to win a learning and teaching award? In this series of Teche posts we showcase our award-winning teachers and uncover the methods and approaches behind their award-winning practice.
Hector Viveros Tapia teaches core Human Resource Management units in first-year and third-year undergraduate and postgraduate courses in the Department of Management, Macquarie Business School.
He ensures that his students not only learn about effective HR management but also experience firsthand the impact of genuine care and attention. His commitment to student-centered care sets a powerful example, showing future HR professionals how to nurture and support their teams effectively. It has also resulted in significantly improved class attendance and reduced unit failure rates.
Hector won a Student Nominated Award in the 2023 Vice Chancellor’s Learning and Teaching Awards.
My teaching philosophy focuses on fostering a supportive environment that promotes meaningful interactions and collaboration. I prioritise student support and inclusivity through a student-centered approach based on social constructivism.
11 ideas for creating a positive and inclusive learning environment
Supporting students to achieve success involves a multifaceted approach that combines showing genuine concern for their well-being, guiding them through the learning process, and fostering confidence, academic growth, and achievement. Hector’s approach includes:
- Creating a welcoming and inclusive environment where students feel comfortable expressing their thoughts, asking questions and participating in discussions.
- Designing relevant assessment tasks.
- Setting clear expectations so students understand the learning objectives, assignment requirements and assessment criteria. Providing reminders to ensure students manage time wisely.
- Providing guidance on using feedback to enhance learning.
- Connecting unit content to real-world situations and examples to demonstrate relevance and practicality.
- Incorporating interactive activities and multimedia resources to make learning engaging and relatable.
- Engaging students with complex concepts through easily relatable narratives.
- Setting up and facilitating ‘meet and greet’ consultation sessions, allowing students to ask questions and seek clarification, fostering a sense of community and care.
- Organising Diversity and Inclusion events to model inclusive behaviors and help students become inclusive future leaders.
- Creating FAQs for assessments by collating common questions into ‘FAQs and Checklist Documents’ to provide clarity when assessments are due, helping all students equally.
- Addressing first-year business students’ struggles with oral and written communication and research skills by inviting the Academic Literacies Unit to deliver workshops in every unit, offering additional resources to help students excel in assignments.
I continuously refine my teaching practice, drawing on my experiences in teaching tutorials across different units. This approach has been highly effective in facilitating successful learning for my students in different cohorts.
Read about Hector’s unique approach to fostering connections with, and between, students in this Teche post:
‘Where’s Hector – And why has he been popping up all over campus?’
Redefining the traditional student-teacher relationship
Guiding students with empathy and care is central to Hector’s teaching philosophy.
By breaking down traditional student-teacher barriers, he demonstrates genuine curiosity about students’ stories and experiences while sharing his own. This approach is crucial for international students who face challenges adapting to a new educational system, language barriers and social integration. Drawing from his experience as a former international student, he embraces their challenges as his own, making this an integral part of his role as an academic.
In advising students, he strives to be an approachable and trustworthy mentor, creating a nonjudgmental space where students can openly discuss their challenges and receive empathetic guidance and support.
He prioritises student employability and career readiness by actively promoting involvement in student societies like the Macquarie University Business Society (MUBS), Women Entering Business (WEB) and programs such as LUCY Mentoring and the Global Leadership Program. Industry practitioners are invited to participate in the unit to provide networking opportunities for students.
My goal is to create a supportive, empathetic learning environment that breaks down traditional barriers, equips students for future success, and fosters a strong sense of community and belonging.
What his students say:
“… Hector was what made the unit more enjoyable, a credit to him making sure each student felt welcomed, and he made sure all students were engaging in the work”.
“Hector’s support was particularly evident in presentations. We all were pretty nervous and not very confident with this mode of assessment, but Hector was wonderful at encouraging and supporting, reconfirming how good these initial attempts were and how they can only improve”.
“The assessment criteria provided a good overview of what to do and the videos for the presentation helped a lot, when it comes to the grading standards it was very detailed”.
“Always introduces theories with case examples which makes learning practical; love how the assessments are reflective of real-world in contents and skills required”.
“I was seriously struggling and really not enjoying uni or anything really. It might seem a little thing, but you have always been relentlessly positive in class and always smiling and bringing humour into your classes, and your offers to help anyone who asked, or to grab a coffee and talk, or give extra advice, meant a lot to me”.
Are you considering applying for an award in the future?
Start gathering your evidence now to be prepared for a future application for a Vice Chancellor’s Award for Excellence.
- Read this post on 15 ways to evidence your teaching achievements at university.
- View these resources for informal evaluation of teaching – Explore other approaches to collecting feedback from students and peers.
- Set a reminder to order an LET survey this session and gather student feedback on your teaching.
- Read about our other award winning teachers.
- Visit the Awards for Excellence in Education site for details of awards and guidance on writing an award application.
Banner image by Maike und Björn Bröskamp from Pixabay
Post compiled by Kylie Coaldrake
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